Dec. 11 (UPI) -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that restaurants in New York City must close for indoor dining beginning next week due to rising COVID-19 hospitalization rates.
Cuomo made the move after health data showed the seven-day average for daily hospitalizations in the city rose to more than 1,100 on Thursday, accelerating a recent upward trend.
The city had been averaging fewer than 900 hospitalizations during the previous four weeks.
"The hospitalizations have continued to increase in New York City," Cuomo said at a briefing. "We said that we would watch it and if the hospitalization rate didn't stabilize, we would close indoor dining.
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"It has not, and so we're going to close indoor dining in New York City on Monday."
Outdoor dining and takeout will continue, he said.
Indoor dining in the city was set at 25% of capacity before the new restrictions.
The governor cited a combination of the city's high density, accelerating disease transmission rates and new guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advising against indoor restaurant dining in making the decision.
"In mass gatherings [the virus] moves faster, you can't eat and drink and keep your mask up ... That says 'be cautious' and do what you can," he said.
Cuomo called on the federal government to provide financial relief to bars and restaurants in its next COVID-19 relief bill, adding, "We'll do what we can in New York. We're going to extend the commercial eviction moratorium, so if a business can't pay the rent because of this situation, they won't be evicted."
Anticipating the new restrictions, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday the move will hurt, but added public health remains the city's top priority.
"I feel tremendous empathy for restaurant owners, a lot of them are mom and pop businesses, we want them to survive. We need them to survive," he told reporters. "At the same time, these numbers don't lie."
